By MARK TRAHANT Editorial Page Editor:
May 14, 2006
I doubt President Bush's best friends support him 100 percent of the time. As long as human beings are involved, there will always be differences -- some significant -- within a philosophy, political party or nation.
Then we expect that line of thinking in this country. Even in a democracy -- no, make that, especially in a democracy -- there is a tension between those who govern and we who are governed. The tradition of dissent is just one way we Americans look at the world.
But what if we had the ability to change lenses? What if we could put on a pair of glasses and see the world differently?
Luckily, we have that power: We can look for insight from the words of people we judge to be credible. There are voices in the world that help us understand differences.
There's a new book that does just that. "Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope" may be the most important book you could read this year because it gives context to the debate about Iran, its nuclear program and a potential war. Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a lawyer, longtime Iranian human rights activist and a well-known dissident, wrote it. She was in Seattle last week talking about the book and her work.
"Though words are peaceful weapons, over the past 15 years, I have been harassed, threatened and jailed in the course of defending human rights and victims of violence in Iran," Ebadi writes. "I wanted to write a book that would help correct Western stereotypes of Islam, especially the image of Muslim women as docile, forlorn creatures."
Her words are not docile at all, and are often brutal, as she describes her story, starting with Iran's democracy under Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. That golden era ended when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah, overthrew the popular, elected government. One of the prime minister's actions -- nationalizing Iran's oil industry -- was seen as a threat to the West. "This bold move, which upset the West's calculations in the oil-rich Middle East, earned Mossadegh the eternal adoration of Iranians who viewed him as the father figure, much as Mahatma Gandhi was revered in India."
The CIA directed the overthrow. Ebadi writes that even the shah credited Kermit Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, for his throne. It was a bitter era, a time of corruption and unrest.
By the time of the Iranian revolution, Ebadi was a judge, and from that perspective watched the imposition of what she called "unjust and arbitrary law" by Islamic fundamentalists. "Of course, many of us female judges did not stay silent. We protested everywhere we could -- in the halls, to our friends with revolutionary connections, to the new minister," she writes.
The "gothic horror story" of the revolution is chilling -- but save that for the book. Iranians themselves will take care of their own problems. Instead, look closer at the complex relationship between the United States and Iran.
Much has focused on the Iranian takeover of the U.S. Embassy (what Ebadi calls a "wrong act, and an embarrassing one, too") but the history between the two nations is much more complicated, including the United States' support of Iraq in the brutal war against Iran. More than a million Iranians and Iraqis were killed or wounded -- and the war's impact "has shaped current Iranian attitudes about our future and our place in the world," Ebadi writes. "Imagine if you were an Iranian and watched the boys in your neighborhood board the bus for the front, never to return. Imagine staring in mute horror at the television screen as Saddam rained chemical weapons down on your boys, his death planes guided by U.S. satellite photos. Fast forward about 15 years ... you are listening to President George Bush promise he wants to bring democracy to the Middle East. You are hearing him address the Iranian people in his State of the Union address, telling them that if they stand for their own liberty, America will stand with them. Do you believe him?"
But Ebadi recognizes that dialogue is the only way forward. "It is time to forget the past and think about the future," Ebadi said Friday.
She says the United States can help reformers within Iran by spotlighting the human rights record because the Islamic system "has shown itself sensitive to such criticism." Iranians want to fight for their own version of democracy.
But what's at risk? "I can think of no scenario more alarming, no internal shift more dangerous, than that endangered by the West imagining that it can bring democracy to Iran through either military might or the fomentation of violent rebellion."
Yes, Ebadi's book is a must read. Too bad it can't be condensed into a one-page policy memo for the president.
Mark Trahant is editor of the editorial page. E-mail: marktrahant@seattlepi.com. A podcast of the P-I's interview with Shirin Ebadi is posted at www.seattlepi.com.